Technical Assistance on Crop Husbandry and Irrigation - Northern Part of Cyprus

With support of the project, farmers were able to reduce the amount of water applied per crop significantly and to increase market value by improving overall agronomy techniques, particularly the irrigation management and utilization efficiency of irrigation in citrus fruits, high value vegetables and forage for livestock feed. Advisory services included the following activities:

• Training of local experts in the provision of the aforementioned advice to farmers and growers.
• Advising farmers and growers on crop production methods, with a particular emphasis on improving the efficiency on water use.
• Training and advice in good agriculture practice for dry farming crops, such as cereals, forage, olive and carob, as well as for traditional irrigated crops in open fields, greenhouses and tree crops. The training included irrigation water management, soil preparation, fertilization, integrated pest management and phytosanitary treatments.
• Training and advice in organic agriculture, which included the legal framework, pest and weed control as well as marketing.
• Designing, preparation and implementation a series of field trials for testing alternative varieties, new crops, appropriate irrigation management application systems and modern agronomy techniques; interpretation of the results, providing recommendations to local experts, the industry and feedback into extension/ advisory services.
• Advising in phytosanitary issues with regard to institutional development, technical training, inspection, etc.
• Assisting in the establishment and/or upgrading of agro-meteorological station(s) to provide accurate data required for the determination of optimum plant water requirements for each crop at different plant growth stages.
• Assisting in the improvement of irrigation infrastructure.
• Assisting in the improvement of services provided by the agronomic laboratory.
• Advising in the formulation of a water management strategy.
• Initiating information campaigns and promotion of Good Agricultural Practices.
• Supporting visibility and promotion of organic agriculture.